Philip J Wells

The Nov 2009 Organists' Review had an article by John Norman entitled 'Unsound Decisions' which used two un-named examples from foreign builders to support an arguament that Continental builders have difficulty when their style of instrument often built for tall and reverberent buildings struggle with the relatively intimate surroundings of British churches etc. He goes on to note that this difficulty extends to style as well. "One church has announced that it is to purchase a new organ from overseas because its builders work in a late 18th early 19th century German-Dutch style. The church in question has deep galleries on three sides, quite unlike the tall churches of Amsterdam. One suspects that either the organbuilder will have to depart from the criterion by which he was selected or the voicing of this organ will be quite a challenge." I read this as applying to St George in which case, if I am correct, there are some interesting challenges ahead which may account for why the H&H is not loved. PJW

Not the only 'oops a daisy' moment. The BBC i player currently has a picture of Westminster Abbey fronting this service! PJW

Thanks for the info so far. I look forward to seeing the pictures. Who drew up the interesting specification and was an organ consultant involved? PJW

I note that this church now has a newly installed 3M+P 16 stops organ by St. Martin of Switzerland. Details on the NPOR at http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi...ec_index=P00563 . Anybody heard/played it? PJW

The Gloucester organ as left by Downes had a roof to try and focus the sound down into Nave (and Choir). Unfortunately during the last work on the organ it was removed resulting in a very swimmy sound (although some would say louder). I would like to see it put back. PJW

The IAO are due to visit St Peter's Brighton at the end of July 2010 as part of their Congress so I assume they expect it to be playable then. PJW

I should think that the Nave organ will be a long time coming. I did hear that the imaginative case shown in John Norman's recent book on cases has been refused a faculty on the grounds it was too large. They still have to raise the funds for the Transept organ which includes moving the case with its 32 ft pipes from South to North Transept as part of a new 2M+P by Nicholsons. PJW

Does this have to be in the UK? In Ireland; Cork, the Cathedral organ was moved from a gallery at the back of the Nave to a pit in the North Transept so the organ did not obscure the walls. Llandaff Cath was not good for sound reaching the nave and the main organ was reported as too far away from the central concrete Epstein drum at the front of the nave but this should all be rectified with the current new 3 divisions. (Oh, perhaps this does not qualify as the origal post said wonderfully sounding in the first place!) Bradford had a PO in a case at the rear of the Nave which has now been got rid of. Does the Chancel organ now cope with all demands? The one organ solution to our Cathedrals has been found wanting as musical needs have changed over the years and several have introduced nave divisions (or used toasters). I expect re-positioning would not always fully meet the needs of most Cathedrals. How does the solution adopted by Mander at Chelmsford Cath with west nave and chancel organs work in practice? PJW

If it is a Public Hall then the competition rules of the EU come into play via the Public Procurement Directive. But surely there is nothing to stop German builders working for churches in Belgium (or am I missing the point because the churches are owned by the state?). PJW

There are several pictures of the console on the Renatus web site ( the people who built the console). PJW

The Church Times of 9 October 2009 page 5 contains the news that Selby Abbey is hoping to install a new organ in the Nave. Their web page at http://www.selbyabbey.org.uk/task.htm notes under Future Projects Installation of the Harrison Nave Organ - £240,000 - funded Restoration of the North Porch - £249,000 Restoration of the Hill Organ - £750,000 The York Press at http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/4660870.Se..._for_new_organ/ report that: trustees of Selby Abbey have launched the appeal to install a new organ in the nave of the abbey because the original is now unreliable. Built in 1909 it needs complete refurbishment, which would cost an estimated £1 million. But the trustees believe to set a target so high would be unrealistic coming so soon after raising £4.5 million to repair the exterior brickwork of the abbey. But an alternative exists in Harrogate where a replacement organ, built in 1919 by Harrison and Harrison, has been found at the decommissioned St Mary’s Church. The cost of removal and installation will cost £250,000, although the ultimate dream is to restore Selby’s organ and then link the two. The Harrogate organ is on the NPOR as N02923 Whilst it is good to see a UK redundant organ being re-homed in the UK, I always have reservations about two organs possibly being used together from different builders. (The worst example of this I have heard is Northampton All Saints with modern Walker pipework at the west end and the re-homed Norman & Beard in the chancel). Does this ever produce an artistic result without major re-scaling and/ or re-voicing?

This is the sort of question that we should be able to ask on the NPOR and may be surprised when we find the answer. In times gone by the HQ used to be able to run special programmes behind the scenes to answer such questions. I do not know if they still can. (At some time in the future we are promised an upgrade. I would like to be able search on case architects and consultants and perhaps the donor/ funder of the organ. Whether all this would require the data to be entered in a different way I don't know. Maybe they need to establish a focus group!) PJW

I assume that for a tidy console (all stops pushed in and swell shutters left open) that you pull the stop to shut the box. PJW [Partially edited by moderator.]

I think you will find that this organ is by "The Positive Organ Co." The NPOR has the details at http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi...ec_index=E00824 (where this was possibly one of two by this builder). What I did not know is that there was a Norman and Beard organ in the Chancel at one point. PJW

Is there an entry for Tubas in the Guiness Book of World Records? According to Stephen D Smith in his Atlantic City book the GBWR has an entry for the world's loudest organ stop. "The Grand Ophicleide rank speaks on 100 inches of wind and, is the world's loudest organ stop, having "a pure trumpet note of ear splitting volume, more than six times the volume of the loudest locomotive whistles". PJW

In the Church Times 10 July 2009 page 16 is a short article on the new organ in Llandaff "From Pencil to Monster". This again repeats the fact that the largest pipe is 26 feet long by two feet wide. However, in a classic misprint THE WHOLE ORGAN WILL BE MADE UP OF 4870 STOPS. I wonder if Llandaff know that their Cathedral is about to become a giant organ chamber housing the largest organ in the world!!!!!!!!! PJW

There is a photo of Huskisson Stubington organist of Tewkesbury Abbey from 1944 to 1996 on page 20 of the recent book by Nicholas Plumley on The Organs of Tewkesbury Abbey on sale from their bookshop. I'm sure a letter to Brian Basham (Hon Assistant Archivist) at Tewkesbury would produce more information. PJW

I had a quick look in Llandaff last week on my way to Castel Coch. Scaffolding was up on the North side and they were working on the Nave casework. A lot of the larger pedal pipes seem to be in position to the East of the current structure for the Great, West Great and Solo. On the scaffolding there were some bits of pedal 32ft scale but much shorter. I wonder if 26ft was all that would fit in the shipping container so the larger pipes are in two bits for later assembly at Llandaff? The North side scaffolding will be coming down in July so they can start on the South side of the organ (and the console, I assume in a loft, to the east of that case). Good progress indeed. PJW

Please welcome Mr and Mrs Phant and their 32 year old son Oli PJW

A recent useful addition to the NPOR is being able to see what records have been amended or are new or have had pictures added. Browsing recently I discovered that the 1861 Walker organ in St Andrew's, Farnham (which was rebuilt in 1959 by HNB and in 1983/5 by Bishops) is now to be rebuilt again by Principal Pipe Organs of York. The really interesting bit is that Ptolemy Dean the architect/ TV presenter is to design a new case. Does anyone know if this will be his first organ case or has he done others and if so where? Thanks. PJW

As this place is extreemly difficult to find on the NPOR those wishing to see the latest spec complete with tonal changes may wish to click here http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi...ec_index=N14871 In the book "Ousley and his Angels" by David Bland published in 2000, Roger Judd provided Appendix 4 , the specification of the organ, and detailed many of the changes which have happened over the years including console modernisation with new stop knobs and fully adjustable pneumatic combination system in 1916 and the change of pitch in 1953. PJW

Try this for size; http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi...ec_index=D07476 PJW

But I assume you could reprogramme the couplers so that Choir to Ped 8 could become Choir to Ped 4; Sw to Gt could be coupled at 5 1/3 or even Sw D coupled to Gt C if you wanted a none effect and the main pedal transmission to play everything up an octave so that it was all 32ft based (would the wind cope). If you want to do all these things then just leave behind the idea of a craftsman built pipe organ and buy a toaster where I'm sure it would fill in all the missing notes from such experiments. Yuk. PJW

Computer generated images of how the cases at Llandaff may look are here http://www.llandaffcathedral.org.uk/Organ%20Appeal.htm PJW

The spec as printed in C&O May/June 2009 seems to be missing 2 stops from the Solo. According to OR Nov 2008 these are Orchestral Trumpet 8 and Tuba 8 (unenclosed). The stop list may mark a return to the romantic English style but when I saw it I just thought of Westminster Abbey! I hope I am wrong. PJW